dcfandomcom-20200222-history
Super Friends (TV Series) Episode: Wanted: The Superfriends
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Supporting Characters: * (as a Bizarro) Antagonists: * ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Locations: * ** ** ** *** ** *** *** ** *** ** *** * ** * ** *** * ** *** * Items: * * * * *Lex Luthor's Dream Machine * * * Vehicles: * * | Notes = * This episode first aired in the United States on September 9th, 1978. * This episode is production number 128-01. * This is the first episode of the Super Friends series under the new name The Challenge of the Super Friends. * This episode is the first appearance of the Legion of Doom. Although Lex Luthor and Brainiac have each made previous appearances, this is the first animated appearance of Bizarro, Captain Cold, Cheetah, Gorilla Grodd, Sinestro, Scarecrow and Toyman. The Riddler has made previous appearances on the New Adventures of Batman animated series and Black Manta has appeared on the Aquaman animated series. * This episode suggests that Gotham City may be located in close proximity to Washington, D.C.. In one scene, Batman and Robin are at Wayne Manor, and only "moments later" (according to the narrator), they are seen taking the Batmobile and Batcopter to the United States Mint. In Post-Crisis comic book continuity, Gotham City is actually located in Southern New Jersey. * When Luthor introduces the Riddler he fans out a set of cards with the pictures of Gleek, Zan, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Batman, and Superman on them. This is the only reference to the Wonder Twins by the Legion of Doom. * This episode is the first of three appearances of Alfred Pennyworth in the series. He appears only as a Bizarro in this episode. He later appears in the episodes Attack of the Vampire and The Fear. | Trivia = * At the beginning of the episode, Lex Luthor introduces each member of the Legion of Doom. Several Legion members even take time to demonstrate their abilities. Captain Cold uses his freeze gun to destroy a ceiling lamp; the Riddler nearly starts a fire with an exploding deck of Super Friends playing cards; Grodd punches his fist through the conference table; Sinestro creates an animated yellow cobra and Cheetah rakes her claws across the table. Oddly enough, Luthor doesn't react to the arbitrary damage committed against his new headquarters. * The Cheetah's voice is patterned after the dialect used by Julie Newmar (and later by Eartha Kitt) as the character of Catwoman from the live-action Batman television series. * Bizarro has very little in common with his comic book counterpart. Whereas the comic Bizarro was more of a good-natured nuisance, the animated Bizarro is clearly a villain with evil intentions. The comic Bizarro also spoke with backwards grammar, lacking conjugated verbs. The animated Bizarro (while still speaking in the third person) simply uses a stilted pidgin dialect. * Aquaman and Black Vulcan do not have a single line of dialogue in this episode. * There are at least two references to the 1977 movie Star Wars featured in this episode. The Hall of Doom closely resembles the helmet worn by the film's antagonist, Darth Vader. Robin also uses a bat-laser cutter which closely resembles a lightsaber. * The alarm claxon at Fort Knox utilizes the same sound effect used for the red alert signal on the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise in the original Star Trek television series. * The Hall of Doom resides within a swamp close to the city where the Hall of Justice is located.Super Friends (TV Series) Episode: Swamp of the Living Dead A crocodile can be seen lumbering past the half-submerged headquarters. This crocodile appears every single time the Hall of Doom rises from the swamp (the behind-the-scenes reasoning behind this is that the animators used the same stock footage over and over whenever they needed to show the Hall of Doom). * The actual quantity of gold held at Fort Knox is not particularly impressive. Superman manages to fit all of it onto a single piece of sheet metal. * In this episode, Green Lantern makes two constructs with his power ring: a giant green hand, and a baseball glove. * Bill Calloway and Casey Kasem, who usually provide the voices for Aquaman and Robin (respectively) also provide the voices for two of the Fort Knox security guards in this episode. Kasem in particular does little to distinguish this voice from the one he normally uses for Robin. * Black Vulcan raiding the Pyramids of Egypt may be what Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law was referencing when Black Vulcan said, "Like I was gonna start super-lootin' the minute they weren't watchin'!" Bloopers & Inconsistencies Even in a fictitious reality that accepts the notion of super-powered individuals, this episode still demonstrates several logistical improbabilities. '' * The Legion of Doom manages to sneak inside of a jail cell and install rocket boosters beneath the floor of the cell without anyone ever noticing. * After Wonder Woman manages to sabotage the runaway jail cell, the force field surrounding the prison dissipates, allowing Superman the ability to fly out of it. However, the open vacuum of space does not seem to affect any of the other Super Friends. * Clark Kent apparently does very little work when he is in his office at the Daily Planet. He is seen lazing about, taking a nap with his feet propped up on his desk. * When introducing the Legion of Doom members, Lex Luthor introduces himself last. The comic book Luthor would insist on introducing himself first. * Lex Luthor uses his duplication technology to turn vast majorities of the world's populace into Bizarros and Cheetahs. While having an army of Bizarros at one's command is certainly advantageous, the episode fails to provide explanation as to the benefit of an army of women wearing Cheetah masks. * The Legion of Doom uses the Dream Machine against the Super Friends in an elaborate attempt to frame them for criminal acts – all so that they can have them arrested, baited into a trick rocket-powered cell, and launched into outer space. It would have been easier for Luthor to use his machine to subliminally manipulate the Super Friends into exiling themselves into outer space, without all of the extraneous theatrics (''observation courtesy of a TV.com reviewer). | Recommended = * Super Friends * Super Powers (Volume 1) * Super Powers (Volume 2) * Super Powers (Volume 3) | Links = * Super Friends article at Wikipedia * Challenge of the Super Friends article at TV.com * Challenge of the Super Friends entry at the Internet Movie Database * Super Friends article at Don Markstein's Toonopedia }}